This invention relates to trailer hitches and more particularly to a trailer hitch guide accessory for a vehicle having a step-type bumper, the guide being readily attachable to the bumper for use during the hitching operation and removable therefrom once the socket of the trailer hitch has been secured to the ball on the towing vehicle.
Guides for directing the socket of a trailer hitch onto a towing ball mounted on the bumper of a vehicle are well known in the prior art. These guides include either a U-shaped wall member or a pair of angularly disposed wall members against which the socket end of the trailer hitch abuts and is thereby directed toward a central portion where the associated ball of the towing vehicle is disposed on the rear bumper, the trailer hitch being guided as the vehicle is backed up toward the trailer hitch. Most of these guide members are non-removably fastened to the vehicle and thereby create an unattractive external protuberance on the vehicle and is subjected to continuous contact with weather and other environmental elements which may require additional maintenance. Examples of these and related hitch guides are disclosed in the following U.S. Patents: Stallsworth U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,604; Vinchattle U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,177; Eichels et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,356; Morton U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,817 and Williams U.S. Pat. No. 1,626,993. Additionally, none of these hitch guides are readily usable with step bumpers which are the type generally used on modern pick-up trucks.
Most currently manufactured pick-up trucks have bumpers which are selected as an option, and generally most are selected with a flat step formed thereon so that access into the bed of the vehicle can be readily obtained by stepping onto the step portions of the bumper. The step portions are separated by a recess, which has a rear wall or riser which is the location where the license plate or tag of the vehicle is mounted, and a platform to which the ball hitch is mounted. Thus, if the hitch guide is permanently attached to the bumper the license plate or tag must be relocated to another position to prevent its being obscured by the known guides. For example, Schwartz et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,394 and Dortch U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,748 both disclose permanently mounted trailer hitch guides in the recess of the step bumper. Thus, not only are these guides constantly subjected to environmental conditions etc., but they also require relocation of the license plate to a less convenient location.
This problem was recognized to a certain extent in Webb et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,496 wherein a removable trailer hitch guide is described. The shortcoming involved with that hitch guide is that it is not adjustable and, because of the construction of the guide when the vehicle is backed-up toward the trailer hitch, if the vehicle backs too far, the trailer hitch socket end, which is initially disposed above the ball, may ram into the upstanding wall in the step and damage the license plate and the bumper. Moreover, all of the known step-type bumpers have a hole formed in the platform of the recess for receiving the shank of a hitch ball. However, the holes in the bumpers manufactured by various manufacturers vary in distance from the riser or rear upstanding wall in the recess from approximately one and one-half to three and one-half inches. Accordingly, for a trailer hitch guide to be useful with step-type bumpers, not only should the guide be removable, but additionally, in order to be universally adapted for use with substantially all of the known bumpers, the guide should have the capability of being adjustably mounted thereon.